Symbolic Concepts Research Articles

Balancing the Scales: An Examination of the Manipulation and Transformation of Symbolic Concepts of Women. Edited by Marie A. Conn and Therese McGuire. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2003. xxx + 134 pages. $35.00 (paper).

Balancing the Scales: An Examination of the Manipulation and Transformation of Symbolic Concepts of Women. Edited by Marie A. Conn and Therese McGuire. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2003. xxx + 134 pages. $35.00 (paper). - Volume 31 Issue 2

Stepping Out of the Box: Rethinking the Failure of ICT to Transform Schools

Despite initial certainty ofpolitical purpose and considerable optimismregarding its effects on teaching and learning,the evidence of school inspector reports in theUSA, Scotland and England suggests thatinformation and communications technology (ICT)remains, at the beginning of the 21stCentury, a marginal force in the education of5–12 year-olds. Explanations for this havetypically been sought in analyses, byresearchers working in the `mainstream' ofschools and teacher education adopting anessentially rational or hyper-rational approachand focusing on inadequacies in resourcing,curriculum policy and training. Yet, othercurriculum changes have taken place despitecomparable barriers; teachers have made themwork. Consequently, it is not possible toexclude the potential for explanation which maylie beyond the essentially rational, systematicand structural arguments offered so far.Alternative avenues explored here include thesocial anthropological concepts of symbol,language, ideology, ritual and myth applied to20th-Century cycles of educational change, thesociological concept of subculture and humancomputer interaction (HCI) theory and models oftechnology acceptance.

Performing national identity: the case of Pavao Ritter Vitezovic´ (1652–1713)

The historiographical writings of the Croatian writer Pavao Ritter Vitezovic´ (1652–1713) have been included in the canon of ‘the basic works of Croatian national politics’ by the traditional ‘national’ historiography. This fact gives rise to the question which symbolic models, ideological concepts and narrative constructions of his discourse seemed to be ‘state-making’ and ‘nation-making’ within this interpretative framework. I shall try to show how Vitezovic´'s performative historiographical discourse produces such an effect, and to demonstrate how this discourse creates and makes legitimate the symbolic construction of national identity, creating a virtual, utopian artefact – a ‘revived Croatia’. However, even though the mechanisms, strategies and devices accounting for its internal cohesion and persuasiveness can be identified in the dominant semantic layer of Vitezovic´'s performative discourse, it at the same time lends itself to an analysis exposing its ‘buried grammar’ of internal contradictions, mostly contextually determined, which destabilise and disintegrate it. As this of necessity renders the ‘national’ readings reductive, I propose instead that the canonical texts be treated as polyphonic cultural artefacts bearing imprints of various discursive and contextual re-inscriptions.

Lying: deception in human affairs

Seeking to clarify the concept of lying, I deal with several topics on which ideas vary. I consider the symbolic, intentional, misleading, and relational character of lies, and include secrecy and other forms of deliberate deception within lies on the basis of these components. Next, I distinguish between human and nonhuman deception, invoking the concepts of symbols, role‐taking, self, and mind. Following this, I present several representative categories of the infinite array of benign and exploitive social contexts in which lying occurs. In a brief discussion, I then impugn the commonly‐used notion of “self‐deception” as internally contradictory. And, finally, I describe both negative and positive consequences of deception in human affairs.

More features of the mythic spacetime algebra

This is the third of a trio of papers on mythic spacetime (see Griffin 2000, 2001). The elementary operations of mathematics are used to link mythology, literature, language, and psychology. The operation of multiplication is redefined as association. Equations utilize variables from sets, with members such as who, what, where, and when. The basic framework consists of a field algebra nested in paired functions. The functions index sets with either of two states. A hierarchical order of operations provides a range to situate different concepts of theme, symbol, and motif.

Feeling the signs: The origins of meaning in the biological philosophy of Susanne K. Langer and Hans Jonas

This paper describes the semiotic approach to organism in two proto-biosemiotic thinkers, Susanne K. Langer and Hans Jonas. Both authors develop ideas that have become central terms of biosemiotics: the organism as subject, the realisation of the living as a closed circular self, the value concept, and, in the case of Langer, the concept of symbol. Langer tries to develop a theory of cultural symbolism based on a theory of organism as a self-realising entity creating meaning and value. This paper deals mainly with what both authors independently call “feeling”. Both authors describe “feeling” as a value-based perspective, established as a result of the active self interest manifested by an organic system. The findings of Jonas and Langer show the generation of a subject pole, or biosemiotic agent, under a more precise accent, as e.g. Uexküll does. Their ideas can also be affiliated to the interpretation of autopoiesis given by the late Francisco Varela (embodied cognition or “enactivism”). A synthesis of these positions might lead to insights how symbolic expression arises from biological conditions of living.

Vsevolod Pudovkin. Classic Films of the Soviet Avant-Garde by Amy s> Sargeant (review)

734 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 with the dramaof destruction and thevictoryof chaotic forces'.Unlike idealized and heroic events portrayedin socialistrealism,those portrayedin 7heGarden are 'violentand unpleasantlycorporealepisodes'(p. 174). In addition to its narrativecomplexities, TheGarden also presentsproblems of absence:chronology may be determinedonly throughcarefulsearchingon the part of the reader,while 'the Kremlin, the point aroundwhich the novel's space is organised, does not receive any direct narrativetreatment' (p. I86). Similarly,issuesof contemporarysocial and political import are missingfrom the novel'spages. In the analytical chapters, the concepts of time, space, gender, narrative perspective, and symbol in The Gardenare analysed, though not in a conventional sense. As Sarsenov explains, the presence of poetic discourse encourages a reading of the text using techniques often associated with analysis of poetry. Instead of the presence of 'time, space and narrative perspective', 'the repetition of leitmotifs and phonetic consonance constitute the novel's new structuralbeams' (p. I68). A comparisonto Belyi'sworks(particularlyPetersburg) and the notion of The Garden as a possible misprision of Gogol"s work situate Sadur in a larger Russian literarycontext. Sarsenovidentifiessome featuresof Sadur'swork as typical of modernism; M. Galina has identified certain texts of the I990S as 'destructive'literature. Characteristicsof such texts include 'a "merging of time", a preoccupation with madness, and a "deformed reality"' (p. I69). The presence of these elements in The Garden contributes to the reader's difficult task of comprehension. Complexity, however, does not preclude universality:Sadurlinksbroadthemes such as death and desire,and Sarsenov notes 'passion and death are so closely intertwined that the two concepts become inseparable'(p. I66). In an extension of WolfgangIser'snotion of the implied readerwhose task is to complete textual gaps, Sarsenov notes that TheGarden may be said to consist 'almostexclusivelyof gaps' (p. 200). Passion Embracing Deathis essential for any readerseekingto fillthese holes in TheGarden. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies ELIZABETH SKOMP University College London Sargeant, Amy. Vsevolod Pudovkin. ClassicFilmsof theSoviet Avant-Garde. I. B. Tauris, London and New York, 2000. XXXVii + 207 PP. Notes. Bibliography .Index. ?3995 THEpoint is well made by Dr Sargeant at the beginning of Vsevolod Pudovkin. ClassicFilms of theSovietAvant-Garde that of all the directors of the Soviet cinematic avant-garde of the I920S, Pudovkin has lately been the least fashionable. Eizenshtein, Vertov, Kuleshov, Dovzhenko, Kozintsev and Trauberg all have their advocates, and recent years have seen the republication of theirtheoreticalwritingsand studiesof theiroeuvres.The films of Eizenshtein and Vertov have been made widely available on video and, recently, in exemplary DVD versions with challenging interpretativecommentary .Amidstallthisintensecelebration,Pudovkinhasbeen the Cinderella REVIEWS 735 not invitedto the ball scholarshave been notablyneglectfuland the existing video editions of his 1920S revolutionary trilogy are murky and far from complete. Now, at last, the case for Pudovkin is being (re-)made. The British Film Institute has issued a video version of the charming 1925 short film he codirected with Nikolai Shpikovskii,Shakhmatnaia goriachka (ChessFever). Splendidly restored and digitallyremasteredversions of Konets Sankt Peterburga (T7he EndofStPetersburg, 1927) and Potomok Chingis-Khana (Storm over Asia, I 928) have been issued on DVD in Britain and America; they are twenty and forty minutes longer respectivelythan the existingvideo versionswhich were taken from later Soviet 'restorations'.ProfessorRichard Taylor is currentlypreparing a new edition of Pudovkin'stheoreticalwritings,and a season of his early filmswas organizedby Amy Sargeantat the National FilmTheatre in London in September 200I. In thiscontext of renewed interest Vsevolod Pudovkin. Classic Filmsof theSoviet Avant-Garde, the first monograph on the director for many years, offersa new guide to his earlycareer. Dr Sargeant's approach is to place Pudovkin'sfilms in the context of his writings,and her extensive introductionaddressesboth the curve of his career as writer-about-cinemaand the vexed question of whetherhis writings,taken together,constitutea 'theory'of cinema in the way that the workof Kuleshov, Vertovand, above all, Eizenshtein, obviouslydoes. This is followed by six chaptersin which Pudovkin'sfilms, from Chess Fever to Detertir(TheDeserter,I933) are placed in the context of his intellectual development and his engagement with the theories not only of other film makers and artists but also of philosophers, political thinkers and natural scientists for it is of no small significancethat Pudovkininitiallytrained as a chemist, turningto cinema only afterbeing poleaxed by Griffith'sIntolerance. Thus chaptertwo, forexample...

Passion Embracing Death: A Reading of Nina Sadur's Novel 'The Garden' by Karin s> Sarsenov (review)

REVIEWS 733 Overall, then, this is much more of a book than may appear at firstsight. It manages to pull offthat greattrickof takingsome relativelyesoterictopic and genuinely opening it up as a window throughwhich to look at Russia'speople and theircultureand valuesin general. Organized Russian& Eurasian Crime Research Unit MARKGALEOTTI Keele University Sarsenov, Karin. PassionEmbracing Death.A Reading ofNina Sadur's Novel'The Garden'. Lund Slavonic Monographs, 3. LundUniversity,Lund, Sweden, 2001. X+ 252 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Price unknown. WITH PassionEmbracing Death, Karin Sarsenov breaks new ground by presentingthe firstmonograph analysingNina Sadur's I997 novel TheGarden. Though initiallyknown as a dramatist,Sadur continues to garner praise for and attention to her prose works;the non-linear, highly disjointedplot of 7he Garden may account for the sparse criticism of the novel in any language. Narratorsand charactersall are unreliableor deficient in some way, and the text repeatedlyfailsto conform to the reader'sexpectations. Sarsenov's text consists of a close reading followed by several chapters of analysis. Leitmotifsreveal links and patterns not only within 7The Garden but also to Sadur'sother dramaticand prose workswith recurringimages, verbal clusters, and even characters. It is in this way that the novel achieves its coherence and meaning is generated. A progressive analysis of attributesof the garden itselfis one particularlyeffectiveaspectof Sarsenov'sclose reading in its illustrationof the significanceof leitmotifs. In her close reading of the three parts of 7The Garden, Sarsenov has divided each segment into scenes or episodes, thus simplifying and assisting the reader'seffortsto comprehend the novel. Using Cynthia Simmons'stypology of aberrant discourse as a template, Sarsenov coins the term 'schizoid discourse'to describeone of the main ways in which narrativeis presentedin thenovel. Sarsenovnotes that'Schizophrenicspeech [. . .] differsfromnormal speech in a way that reflectshow literarytexts differfrom non-literaryones' (p. 26). The protagonist, Alesha, is the focal point of the firstpart of 7The Garden, 'The Wind from the Suburbs', narrated in the schizoid discourse of his mother, Anna Ivanova. Alesha becomes the primary narrator in 'The Stutterer';his heavy drinkinggives rise to alcoholic discourseand illogicality. The third segment, 'Blind Songs', consists of third-person narration, with Moscow life portrayedfrom the perspectiveof the homeless Prygaloas well as that of Alesha. Shiftingnarrativeperspectivesrecurthroughout 7heGarden. As the close reading progresses, '[t]he psychiatric framework chosen to make the text intelligible gradually gives way to a folkloric one: the textual references to myth and folk belief, especially love incantations, accumulate and intensify' (p. 2I8). Further,myth structuresin TheGarden are privileged over anything remotely resembling the quotidian and evince a deliberate subversionof and reactionto socialistrealism:Sadur'smythsare 'preoccupied 734 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 with the dramaof destruction and thevictoryof chaotic forces'.Unlike idealized and heroic events portrayedin socialistrealism,those portrayedin 7heGarden are 'violentand unpleasantlycorporealepisodes'(p. 174). In addition to its narrativecomplexities, TheGarden also presentsproblems of absence:chronology may be determinedonly throughcarefulsearchingon the part of the reader,while 'the Kremlin, the point aroundwhich the novel's space is organised, does not receive any direct narrativetreatment' (p. I86). Similarly,issuesof contemporarysocial and political import are missingfrom the novel'spages. In the analytical chapters, the concepts of time, space, gender, narrative perspective, and symbol in The Gardenare analysed, though not in a conventional sense. As Sarsenov explains, the presence of poetic discourse encourages a reading of the text using techniques often associated with analysis of poetry. Instead of the presence of 'time, space and narrative perspective', 'the repetition of leitmotifs and phonetic consonance constitute the novel's new structuralbeams' (p. I68). A comparisonto Belyi'sworks(particularlyPetersburg) and the notion of The Garden as a possible misprision of Gogol"s work situate Sadur in a larger Russian literarycontext. Sarsenovidentifiessome featuresof Sadur'swork as typical of modernism; M. Galina has identified certain texts of the I990S as 'destructive'literature. Characteristicsof such texts include 'a "merging of time", a preoccupation with madness, and a "deformed reality"' (p. I69). The presence of these elements in The Garden contributes to the reader's difficult task of comprehension. Complexity, however, does not preclude universality:Sadurlinksbroadthemes such as death and desire,and Sarsenov notes 'passion and death are so closely intertwined that the two concepts become inseparable'(p. I66). In an extension of WolfgangIser'snotion of the implied readerwhose task is to complete...

The More Things Change...American Identity and Mass and Elite Responses to 9/11

This article examines conceptions of American national identity by contrasting Americans’ responses to the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 with their responses to the terrorist attacks in 2001. Examinations of official rhetoric, mass media statements, and public opinion polls after Pearl Harbor and after 9/11 reveal changes as well as continuities in the relationship between conceptions of national identity and responses to experiencing threat in the face of diversity. Lingering ascriptivist views have been awakened by 9/11, yet this narrow image of American identity is being directly challenged by a more inclusive incorporationist tradition. This clash of symbolic conceptions of national identity results in divergence between elite rhetoric and mass opinion, with elites promoting incorporationism and ordinary citizens displaying the reawakening of ascriptivist norms.

Symbolism and Social Phenomena

This article takes up, but in a different key, an argument of postmodernists that the over-rationalized conception of society tends to ignore important phenomena such as those belonging to the symbolic domain. It is suggested that the emerging programme of symbolic sociology may contribute toward a new synthetic and interdisciplinary thinking in social sciences. The concept of symbolism as a social phenomenon rather than as an autonomous linguistic or semiotic system is presented; and the argument is made that if social knowledge is constitutive of society, similarly collective sentiments, temporality and collective memory are also symbolically produced. They are created from and create discursive symbolism, symbolic objects and symbolic behaviours. Finally, the article focuses on collective actions where the sociology of symbolic processes is most promising.

Landscape as Symbolic Form: Remembering Thick Place in Deep Time

The current intense concern with landscape in the arts and social theory is seen as a response to the shaking of the Modern world-view, which has attended the growing awareness of the ecology crisis. The dilemmas associated with developing a new conception of the relationship between humans and the natural world is explored through a critical engagement with the work of Heidegger and Habermas. The article develops a symbolic conception of landscape as a place where the human world and the earth meet and a new sense of the human condition set within ecological constraints can be articulated and reflected upon.

Les Kinderszenen op. 15 de Schumann: Composantes litteraires et biographiques d'une genese

The Kinderszenen is the first significant piece of instrumental music inspired by impressions of childhood. Why did Schumann devote an entire cycle to this subject ? What gave the decisive impulse to the composition ? It is well known that memories of the young Clara Wieck (whom Robert first met at the age of nine) played a part in it. The autobiographical aspect is just one side of the question. The other one is, once more, literature and poetry. An examination of the readings, diaries, fictional and critical writings of Schumann in the decade preceeding the composition of the Kinderszenen (1828-1838) reveals his constant interest in the romantic cult of childhood. Through Jean Paul, Hoffmann or Thibaut, the composer built a symbolic conception of childhood which defined quite exactely his ideal of poetic music : depth at the heart of simplicity. These two aspects of the genesis (in a larger sense) of the Kinderszenen are intimately connected. Firstly because Schumann projected literary images on the Wunderkind who seemed to be the incarnation of a romantic ideal. Secondly because Clara possessed the purity which, in the aesthetics of Hoffmann, was a moral a priori for every great creation. Schumann felt unworthy of her and aimed to return with her help to the lost paradise of innocence.

Ein verschollen geglaubter Abendmahlstraktat Johannes à Lascos von 1548

Article Ein verschollen geglaubter Abendmahlstraktat Johannes à Lascos von 1548 was published on December 1, 2001 in the journal Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte - Archive for Reformation History (volume 92, issue jg).

Methods for Studying Symbolic Behavior and Category Formation: Contributions of Stimulus Equivalence Research

How do humans categorize items and events in their world, and what role does language play in this process? Such questions have been at the center of long-standing debate among philosophers and scientists from many eras, cultures, and disciplines. Fundamental to this debate are difficult questions of what is meant by the concept of a linguistic symbol. For instance, philosophers and scientists alike have articulated a conceptual distinction between the relations involved in rich linguistic symbols (true words) as compared to restricted paired associates (rote-learned associations). Yet it remains difficult to specify behaviorally what actually makes these two types of relations different. In this article, we describe methodology that may offer an operationalized model that allows empirical analysis of paired associate versus symbolic learning. Like any methodology, our approach alone does not pretend to fully resolve age-old questions. However, we intend to illustrate distinct advantages offered within this approach to scholars interested in symbolic functioning and its development.

Calvin’s concept of and the Formulary of the GKSA on the Lord’s Supper

Dutch humanists provided Zwingli with a symbolic concept of the Lord’s Supper by which the bread and wine symbolise the body and blood of Christ on Calvary. These symbolic concepts of body and blood should be commemorated (in memoriam) and believed to receive atonement from sin. The Formulary and formula for administering the sacrament in the GKSA were inherited from the Netherlands and contain phrases originally used by Calvin. It is widely claimed and assumed that the contents of the Formulary corresponds with concepts derived from Calvin. Calvin’s commentaries on relevant passages and concepts expressed in his Institutes and Tracts differ radically and entirely from the trend and content of the Formulary and formula of administration used in the GKSA. Calvin does not isolate the death of Christ from resurrection. He does not dwell upon communion with something Christ did for us in the past. He accepts the sacrifice (blood) to ratify a covenant (new testament) by which the household of God is established. The bread and cup signify Christ, and are regarded as God’s spiritual nourishment for his household. The living Christ in heaven is present in the Holy Spirit at the Lord’s health-giving table. The symbols of bread and cup remain what they are but through faith change to represent Christ. Calvin’s concept of communion and unity is irreconcilable with the concept of a sacramental meal of commemoration (Zwingli). The concept of communion corresponds with early Christian and even Roman and Lutheran traditions. Faith in atonement belongs to commencement of salvation (viz. baptism and the Formulary of the GKSA on the Lord’s Supper). Being nourished with Christ through faith belongs to the consummation of salvation (viz. communion).

From complexity to simplicity: nature and symbols

This paper reviews Pattee's ideas about the symbolic domain as a phenomenon related to the self-simplifying processes of certain hierarchical systems, such as the living. We distinguish the concepts of constraint, record, and symbol to explain how the Semantic Closure Principle, that is to say, the view that symbols are self-interpreted by the cell, emerges. Related to this, the notion of complementarity is discussed both as an epistemological and as an ontological principle. In the final discussion we consider whether autonomous systems can exist in which constraints are not symbolically preserved, and if biological symbols can be considered to have a descriptive nature.

Multi‐language approach in automatic generation of numerical procedures

AbstractPractice shows that at the research stage of derivation of a new numerical software different languages and different platforms are the best means for assessment of performances and failures of the numerical model. By the classical approach, re‐coding in different languages would be extremely time consuming and is never done. The paper presents the use of symbolic and algebraic systems for improved quality control of automatically generated numerical procedures. With the symbolic concepts the code is automatically generated for several languages and for several platforms from the same basic symbolic description.

Symbolic agglomerative clustering for quantitative analysis of remotely sensed data

An efficient nonparametric, hierarchical, symbolic agglomerative clustering procedure based on the mutual nearest neighbourhood concept is proposed for classifying remotely sensed multispectral data. The procedure utilized a data reduction technique and an innovative symbolic concept to minimize the memory and computational time requirements. A new non-metric similarity measure and a novel method of formulation of composite symbolic objects are proposed to enrich the performance of the algorithm. A Mean Difference Index (MDI) concept for identifying the optimal number of classes was used. Experiments were conducted on IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) satellite data to authenticate the efficacy of the procedure.

Integrated knowledge description of image and language to acquire the concept of linguistic symbol standing for shape and structure through learning

Integrated knowledge description of image and language to acquire the concept of linguistic symbol standing for shape and structure through learning

Mito, símbolo y arquetipo en los proceso de formación de la identidad colectiva e individual

En este artículo, el autor analiza a través de dos recorridos teóricos las maneras en las cuales los mitos y símbolos arquetípicos definen los procesos de constitución de identidad. El primero de estos recorridos se refiere a los mitos como sustancia material que da sentido a las representaciones que constituyen el origen de la identidad colectiva e individual; el segundo, aborda la descripción de las prácticas sociales a través de las cuales el mito configura el contenido de los procesos e instituciones sociales que crean y difunden las nociones de identidad. El autor se detiene, especialmente, en la explicación de los conceptos de símbolo, arquetipo y mito, sobre todo en este último como sustrato fundacional de la identidad. De igual modo, estudia las dimensiones ontológicas, sicológicas, morales, sociales y políticas del mito como creación de una identidad colectiva.